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Organic cod conditions described as ‘horrifying’
Horrifying conditions on supposedly organic cod fish farms have been condemned by a government adviser.
The expensive farmed cod, which costs double the price of fish from the sea, is being sold on the basis that it is ethical and good for the future of the species.
It also gives shoppers peace of mind that the high price - a mark-up of £10 per kilo - is worthwhile if it means saving wild cod from being fished out of the North Sea.
However, this cod is reared in cages in the seas off the coast of Shetland and kept in almost permanent artificial light through the two years of growth.
The artificial lights are designed to keep the fish eating and growing to a large size without going through the natural maturing process.
The cod farming system has been approved by the government's food and farming department, Defra, and is sold under the logo of the Organic Food Federation.
However, both a government adviser and the Soil Association, the leading organic food certifying and policing body, insist there is no way this form of fish farming can be considered organic.
Catherine Fookes, a member of the government's advisory board on organic food lifts the lid on the scandal in a special report on Channel 4 News.
She said: "If people thought that a pig or a chicken was being raised organically under those conditions they would be horrified and the same goes for fish.
"We have three grave concerns about cod standards currently in UK.
"The first is the continuous use of light and what effect this has on animal welfare. The second is the effect this has on the flora and fauna around in the sea. And the third is the effect is the carbon emissions from powering the lights."
Sales of the fish, which are branded as 'No Catch' cod are rising at a rate of 20 per cent a year amid a wider shift to organic shopping by consumers. It is on sale at both Tesco and Sainsbury's.
Events like the bird flu outbreak at a Suffolk turkey factory farm run by Bernard Matthews, BSE and foot and mouth have led consumers to seek out more naturally produced food.
However, supporters of organic farming fear the message is being undermined by giving support to cod fish farming.
The Soil Association itself has come under fire from senior figures in the movement for giving its blessing to organic salmon farming in Scotland.
The Association's former chairman, Lawrence Woodward, said: "I don't believe that consumers who are buying organic farmed cod are getting what they expect in terms of environmental protection, in terms of food quality and in terms of welfare for the fish.
"I applaud the Soil Association's decision not to certify cod. It's a pity that they've certified salmon...As far as I am concerned, all certification of these wild species of animals should not occur.
"The manipulation of the life cycle of the fish by light and in such a dramatic way bears no relationship to organic principles."
The cod farms are run by Johnson's Seafarms, which will produce around 700,000 of the fish this year, with projections of 1.2 million next year and 1.6 million by 2009.
Its managing director, Karol Rzepkowski, said: "What we do at No Catch is produce the best quality fish and happy cod. That's what it is to us. It's a happy fish that has been reared in the best possible farmed environment we can imagine."
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